Following the widely praised and critically acclaimed South Park: The Stick of Truth and South Park: The Fractured But Whole, South Park Studios and THQNordic have delivered their first lukewarm release.
South Park: Snow Day drastically moves away from the formula adopted by its predecessors, both turn-based RPGs where players create their own “new kid” and join the kids of South Park to play concerningly violent make-believe. While still taking on the role of the new kid and acknowledging events of the previous games, Snow Day returns to the medieval fantasy style of Stick of Truth, without the turn-based combat.
Characters and the town you play in are now entirely in 3D, with a real-time combat system that puts you and up to three other new kids against waves of enemy combatants. Through this shift to 3D came some less-than-perfect translations from the show’s stop motion-esque visual language. Cut scenes intentionally frame characters perpendicular to the camera to emulate the show’s style of the show but when Randy Marsh has 3D-modeled hair and a 2D mustache, it looks a little strange.
Even though the art style did begin to grow on me as I played more, it certainly was a sign that Snow Day was less concerned with simulating an interactive episode of the show than the previous two games were. While there are some funny moments in cutscenes, the gameplay leaves little room for laughs. At best, players will see Cartman or another character’s face appear in the corner as if on a video call to make a joke. However, less than two hours into the game, I had already begun to hear these jokes repeated.
So if the South Park element of a “South Park video game” leaves something to be desired, what about the video game part? Unfortunately, this too is subpar. Conversation around the game has consistently compared it to the Xbox 360 title “Happy Wars,” which used a cartoonish style and special abilities tied to a charge meter or a cooldown timer.
In Snow Day, players can equip two powers per match which recharge as the character fills their “Pissed Off” meter. During a mission, you can collect cards that augment these powers or grant passive benefits. Players are also given access to “Bullshit” cards which can turn the tide of a battle by summoning minions, raining meteors and more. Despite the promising appearance of these mechanics in concept, Snow Day executes them in a way that can only be described as unsatisfying.
As a longtime fan of the series and both previous games, South Park: Snow Day really misses the mark by a mile. What fun I was able to have more than anything with this game came mostly from the fact that I was able to play it with my partner, and it stands to reason anyone who deeply wants to play this game would most enjoy it for its multiplayer features and to create fun memories with fun people.